They came prepared to duel. The home cooks and professional chefs who were teamed up to go knife-to-knife for bragging rights in the Dueling Cooks Challenge at the Colorado State Fair Aug. 26.

This was year 10 for the highly competitive contest. The chefs pair up with cooks chosen from winners of the various cooking, canning and baking contest held during the fair.

“We invite all exhibitors who have received first, second or third place ribbons by either entering the Pantry Department or our Special Cooking Contest,” said Debbie Wallace, Colorado State Fair general entry and fine arts manager. “Then four names are drawn randomly from the cooks who accept the invitation.”

The home cooks bring their own cooking gear, but the ingredients are an “Iron Chef”-style surprise in a mystery basket of Colorado Proud products. There were nine ingredients in each basket: eggs, fingerling potatoes, cantaloupe, cheese, Merlot, granola, corn on the cob, pearl onions and honey. They each got a portion of top sirloin beef from the Colorado CattleWomen, too. The cooks had to use all their basket foods to prepare a soup or salad, entree and dessert. There was also a small pantry of staples they could use, like cream, butter, yogurt, salt and pepper.

There were two heats with two teams doing their best to prepare the most creative and tasty dishes to wow the judges. They had five minutes to settle on a menu, an hour to do the preparation, five minutes to plate the food and 10 minutes to write the recipes. The kicker is that the professional chefs are not allowed to do any of the cooking. They can guide the home cook with recipe suggestions and do the slicing and dicing. They can also help with plating. The heavy lifting is left to the home cooks to prepare and taste the food to be sure it’s blue ribbon worthy.

At the end of the day here is how the teams stacked up:

First place: Becca Anderson, Art Institute of Colorado in Denver, and Ginger Brinkhaus, Lakewood

Second place: Jason Morse, 5280 Culinary in Denver, and Jessica Stone, Colorado Springs

Third place: Kayla Zezas, Simms Steakhouse in Denver,  and Milt Clark, Rye

Fourth place: Rob Mattoch, chef consultant in Denver, and Deborah Ponce, Pueblo

Cold Cantaloupe Soup

Serves 2

1/2 cantaloupe

1/2 cup yogurt

3 tablespoons honey

Dash cinnamon

Pinch salt

Blend everything and add cinnamon and salt. Serve in 1/4 of a cored cantaloupe and garnish with a cantaloupe curl.

Seared Steak with Wine & Pear Reduction

Serves 2

4 oz. top sirloin steak, sliced

For Marinade:

1/2 Cup Red Wine

1/2 Cup Pear Sauce

Thyme

Salt

Pepper

For Reduction:

1 cup canned pears

1/2 Cup red wine

1 tablespoon honey

Marinate steak and grill. Reduce wine to a syrup.

Glazed Onions

2 tablespoon Butter

1 cup pearl onions

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Salt

Pepper

Water

1 tablespoon honey

Melt butter in sauté pan and caramelize onions. Add remaining ingredients, cover and reduce until tender.

Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

Serves 2

1 pound fingerling potatoes

1/2 teaspoon thyme

Salt

Pepper

1-1/2 ears corn, blanched and cut off cob

6 ounces Rocking W Dairy Farmers Vegetable Cheese

3 tablespoon butter

Melt butter and toss with potatoes, thyme, salt and pepper. Roast potatoes at 450 degrees for 30 minutes. Slice potatoes, sprinkle corn and shredded cheese over the top. Broil 3 minutes or until golden. Serve warm.

Peach Crumble with Corn Crème Anglaise

Serves 2

2 halves canned peaches with juice

1 cup Fiona’s Natural Granola

1/3 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon honey

For Crème Anglaise:

2 egg yolks

3/4 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon honey

1/4 cup cooked corn

Simmer peaches, cinnamon, juice and honey in sauté pan until syrupy. For crème anglaise, whisk yolks and honey together, heat cream with corn kernels to just below simmer. Temper yolks with cream and heat until thickened. Plate on a bed of granola.